This budget deficit battle is a continuation of the battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party vs. the teapartiers and the American people are caught in the middle as pawns in these high stakes games played by those on the right. Americans deserve much better than what the extremist neo-con facist teapartiers represent and what is sorely lacking from the moderate republicants.

This budget deficit battle is a continuation of the battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party vs. the teapartiers and the American people are caught in the middle as pawns in these high stakes games played by those on the right. Americans deserve much better than what the extremist neo-con facist teapartiers represent and what is sorely lacking from the moderate republicants.Posted by -Q

"the American people are caught in the middle"

Nice sound byte, completely meaningless liberal media sop for the progressives. Americans caught in the middle? stop it with this victimology, it is just as stupid as it sounds.

The TEA party is more in line with the American people on the issue of the budget than either party. Time for both parties to put down the bottle and start to sober up to the reality, that our country has drifted into a near-insolvency caused by the democrats, and endorsed by the republicans.

Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman Wednesday called House Speaker John Boehner's plan to end the stalemate over raising the federal government's debt ceiling "the best solution on the table right now."

In an interview on CBS' "The Early Show," Huntsman, the former Republican Utah governor and President Obama's ambassador to China, embraced the speaker's plan for a short-term increase in the government's borrowing authority even though the plan showed signs of faltering after being met with stiff resistance among House Republicans aligned with the Tea Party.

The major difference is that, under Boehner's plan, Mr. Obama would have to ask Congress to raise the debt ceiling at least one more time before the 2012 presidential elections.

The speaker's plan was dealt a blow Tuesday with congressional budget analysts reporting that it wouldn't actually make as many cuts as Boehner said it would, prompting the speaker to delay a vote on the bill from Wednesday to Thursday.

Still, on "The Early Show," Huntsman endorsed Boehner's plan.

"We've got to find a solution here, and I think Speaker Boehner's solution is right on," Huntsman told Hill. "It cuts where we need to cut. He talks about tax reform, where we desperately need it as a country."

Huntsman also praised Boehner for backing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, which Huntsman described as something "we're going to need."

"It's the best safeguard that we can have toward a run-up in spending, and he's looking at entitlements as well over time," Huntsman told Hill. "It's a two-step process to be sure, but I think it is the best solution on the table right now."

my post stands as is..........i belong to neither political party and I am far from being a liberal......skeets uses the same bs when he disagrees with someone....nice try skeets try barking up another tree or have another cup of that strange brew called tea.........sounds like you are mimicking the teapartier sop

No wonder "Q" chose a brief name; he is another proud public school graduate; he got extra credit from his unionized teacher for trying to spell " fascist"; it would have hurt his self esteem to tell him how to spell it correctly.

After this post on how the Tea Party and Republicans are in a "battle" , next week the lame talking point about Republicans and Tea Party being the same "TeaPublicans" will return .

The TEA party is simply for us being fiscally responsible. When did that become such a radical concept?Posted by skeeter20

Similar statement could be made for the goals of MoveOn.

In a recent poll I saw today 1% of people polled claim to be active with the Tea Party, I'd guess a similar number would say the same about MoveOn. In addition there are likley 15-20% who have strong sympathies to each of the organizations goals. That leaves 60% who should be able to have a discussion while addressing some of the extreme views.

That being said, once you've used your muscle to get your goals incorporated into a bill you need to stand back and be pragmatic and compromise to get a piece of what you want. No party has the controlling votes here. The GOP isn't as strong as the Dems were when them ram-rodded HCR through; so how does the TP think it is going to get everything that it wants?

If they get in the way of a deal; they will own the problem and the resulting election retribution of the middle as the pendulum swings the other way.

House Republican leaders convened a closed-door party meeting Thursday and appeared close to winning over holdouts to pass their plan, which would make $900 million in cuts, raise the debt ceiling for a few months, and come back for more of the same later. But Senate Democratic leaders said that if that happened they would waste no time rejecting the legislation. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Senate Democrats would move immediately Thursday night to set aside the House proposal if it wins passage and then take steps to force a vote on Mr. Reid’s own proposal to raise the debt limit through 2012 in exchange for more than $2 trillion in cuts. “No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now,” Mr. Reid said. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/us/politics/29fiscal.html?hp Reid has a point, but also isn't exactly playing fair. Yes, it would seem to be a bit absurd to drive towards downgrade just a few months from now. But what of his plan? From what I read, his cuts aren't really cuts. They're just predicted savings based on assumed withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan. Posted by WhatDoYouWantNow

The downgrade is happening despite either plan. the downgrade is about the debt, not the deficit. Neither plan addresses the issue of the deficit except in some phony baloney magical cuts to growth sort of way. the deficit continues to go in both plans.

In Response to Re: The ongoing battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party rages on......... : Similar statement could be made for the goals of MoveOn. In a recent poll I saw today 1% of people polled claim to be active with the Tea Party, I'd guess a similar number would say the same about MoveOn. In addition there are likley 15-20% who have strong sympathies to each of the organizations goals. That leaves 60% who should be able to have a discussion while addressing some of the extreme views. That being said, once you've used your muscle to get your goals incorporated into a bill you need to stand back and be pragmatic and compromise to get a piece of what you want. No party has the controlling votes here. The GOP isn't as strong as the Dems were when them ram-rodded HCR through; so how does the TP think it is going to get everything that it wants? If they get in the way of a deal; they will own the problem and the resulting election retribution of the middle as the pendulum swings the other way.Posted by massmoderateJoe

hi joe. With all due respect, the same thing cannot be said of moveon.org. It is not about percents for this, percents for that, it is not about comprimise, it is about doing the right thing. How can adding to the debt 9 trillion over 10 years be a sane concept? That's what Bohners plan does.

It is about what is fiscally sane and sustainable.

Fiscal sanity is not an extremist concept. This is not a case of two extremes: The TEA party, in terms of fiscal sanity is where the bulk of the American people are. The establishment republicans on up through the progressives are all fiscally un-sane and out of step with the people.

If we don't get in front of this freight train now and stop it, it will be going too fast to stop it in another couple of years.

In Response to Re: The ongoing battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party rages on......... : hi joe. With all due respect, the same thing cannot be said of moveon.org. It is not about percents for this, percents for that, it is not about comprimise, it is about doing the right thing. How can adding to the debt 9 trillion over 10 years be a sane concept? That's what Bohners plan does. It is about what is fiscally sane and sustainable. Fiscal sanity is not an extremist concept. This is not a case of two extremes: The TEA party, in terms of fiscal sanity is where the bulk of the American people are. The establishment republicans on up through the progressives are all fiscally un-sane and out of step with the people. If we don't get in front of this freight train now and stop it, it will be going too fast to stop it in another couple of years. This is a tipping point.Posted by skeeter20

The strong opposing views are mucking this up. if we can't get to a grand deal then we need somthing by next week. Right now Boehner's 2 step is the best real cut plan on the table, as opposed to Reid's plan which just accounts for the war drawn down; he's counting his peace dividend before it hatches.

House Republican leaders convened a closed-door party meeting Thursday and appeared close to winning over holdouts to pass their plan, which would make $900 million in cuts, raise the debt ceiling for a few months, and come back for more of the same later. But Senate Democratic leaders said that if that happened they would waste no time rejecting the legislation. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said Senate Democrats would move immediately Thursday night to set aside the House proposal if it wins passage and then take steps to force a vote on Mr. Reid’s own proposal to raise the debt limit through 2012 in exchange for more than $2 trillion in cuts. “No Democrat will vote for a short-term Band-Aid that would put our economy at risk and put the nation back in this untenable situation a few short months from now,” Mr. Reid said. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/us/politics/29fiscal.html?hp Reid has a point, but also isn't exactly playing fair. Yes, it would seem to be a bit absurd to drive towards downgrade just a few months from now. But what of his plan? From what I read, his cuts aren't really cuts. They're just predicted savings based on assumed withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan. Posted by WhatDoYouWantNow

You are correct; Right now Boehner's 2 step is the best real cut plan on the table, as opposed to Reid's plan which just accounts for the war drawn down; he's counting his peace dividend before it hatches.

In Response to Re: The ongoing battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party rages on......... : ...its not wrong to want limited government in fact its a healthy debate. If there were no restraints then we would be heading toward a much more imposing government model.Posted by massmoderateJoe

limited is one thing...emaciated is yet another...

and the debate is only as healthy as the minds doing the debating...incessant screams of "socialism!" are quite the opposite.

In Response to Re: The ongoing battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party rages on......... : limited is one thing...emaciated is yet another... and the debate is only as healthy as the minds doing the debating...incessant screams of "socialism!" are quite the opposite.Posted by MattyScornD

One man's view of emacited is another's of a marathoner lean and trained for performance.

I haven't viewed any screams of socialism lately by GOP Congressional members but I did just witness on CNN a Democratic Rep rip into the GOP on the Boehner Plan as being an attack on soical security, medicare an medicaid, as she basiclally raised a call to arms from voters. The funny thing is that, what she was complaining about is in Reids plan go figure...did she demonize Reid, NO.

In Response to Re: The ongoing battle for the heart and soul of the republicant party rages on......... : One man's view of emacited is another's of a marathoner lean and trained for performance. Posted by massmoderateJoe